EuroTrip - Day 77

On the Top of the World

Presently the Swiss countryside has only three colors - that of green grass, white snow and the golden winter sun. Trust me you won't even ask for any more color. It's just as beautiful as it could get. Might sound cliche but I have to tell - if there is heaven anywhere on earth, it is in Switzerland. I have fallen in love with this place. I am not putting my camera to too much work as I know it just cannot capture the Swiss beauty. You have to be here to enjoy it (I know how much everyone will curse me for saying things like this! Still)

After spending a quiet day in Geneva, it was time to see some real Swiss attraction - snow capped mountain tops. And what better place to do that then Mount Titlis. Situated close to the beautiful city of Lucerne (Luzerne), this is one of the most beautifully developed tourist attraction in this country and is part of every travel plan. For Swiss people, it is one of those place where they come to every now and then to unwind themselves by skiing down some of the most exciting slopes in Swiss Alps.

In Mt. Titlis you meet only two kinds of people - those who are skiing enthusiasts or those who are Indians. There are just too many of us visiting this place. Bollywood movies and SOTCs of the world have heavily sold this region of Switzerland as the best honeymoon destination. Swiss tourism now does not need to do much apart from putting some instructions in Hindi. The local businesses have adapted well too. You can find Paneer Butter Masala being served in the restaurant at the top of Titlis (that is at a height of 3200m asl). They just can not afford to ignore Indians anymore.

Mt Titlis is an experience presented in a golden platter. It starts with a train journey in red toy-like narrow gauge train that takes you through beautiful Swiss countryside in an hour long journey from Luzerne to Engelberg. Don't mind, if half the bogey is filled with Indians. You might wonder why they have not yet started selling chana jor garam in this train yet!!

Towards the end of journey, this train almost converts into a funicular climbing steep hilly terrain at tortoise speed. The speedway runs alongside the train route most of the time. DJ had been suggesting me that we should do a car trip in Swiss countryside. Today, it became clear why he had been saying so.

Engelberg is a sleepy little town (or at least that is what it appeared to be) in the base of Alps. It is surrounded by snow capped mountains from all the sides and is a base for some very popular adventure sports destinations. However a bright sunny day compelled us to not 'waste' any time in this beautiful town and directly start the cable car journey.

It takes a journey of around 40 minutes in three different cable cars to reach the peak of Mt Titlis. The first cable car just takes you from the dark alpine forests to start of snow covered hills. A foreplay of a kind, it just gets you excited well enough of the things that you are about the experience.

The second phase of cable car journey is done in a bigger gondola that takes you almost midway to the peak at a stop called Stand. This is where you start seeing the skiers in action. While a lot of them will be lazying after a quick journey down the slope from the top, others are getting ready for their turn. The last gondola from here is a special one. Its a revolving one giving you a panoramic view of terrain and takes you to the mountain top that is situated at 3020 m asl. This last 600 mtr long segment is the best part of the cable car experience. Incidentally, this was first of its kind revolving areal cable car to be installed in the entire world.

The thermometer was reading -9 degree at the top. There were snowy winds awaiting to welcome us as soon as we got out of the gondola and crossed the huge commercial complex. And there we went. Right away in the snow. Without even checking on our preparations to do so. First touch of the snow and we were ecstatic. It just did not occur to me that dressing up in snowy winds could be harmful. Like a warrior, I removed my gloves to check on my jacket and in that process exposed them to snowy winds for a long time. Next hour or so, I was just praying to god to save me from any snow bite or chill blitz (damn Bora!). My hands were getting frozen and it was difficult to even bend my fingers. I could feel the pain but there was no way I could stop playing with snow. It was my first time of seeing so much of snow. All around. Snow white mountain tops - till the horizon in every direction. We were on top of the world.

The skiers all around us were enjoying their rounds. It's a different world out there for them. High of excitement and passion. Excitement can be contagious. We tried our hands at walking and rolling on the snow. And then we took the "Ice Flyer" glacier chairlift that offers breathtaking views of the crevasses on the glacier at the top of the Titlis. It could not have been better than this. The chilly winds got colder and colder and we lost track of everything. I just knew that I had to do one thing - make a call. Titlis has a big transmission tower for Swiss Telecom, the second best thing they did after making the Rotair cable car. Every soul needs to be in this heaven with their loved ones. Or at least get a chance to talk to them. :D

We had lost track of time, of our self and of everything. That's the euphoria of this place. We were in heaven. If not heaven, it was his second cousin for sure. The best of what I have seen so far. Our return journey and then search for food in the beautiful town of Engelberg was really insignificant compared to what we had experienced. It takes time to coming back to reality. Who wants do that anyways?

ps: I have taken a couple of videos and lots of photos, just in case if I could not describe my experience better. I knew that I will really find myself short of words. As I had spent time writing this post, I am posting here. I will upload the videos and photos soon.

EuroTrip - Day 76

Everything Swiss

4:30 am is still night for all practical purposes. It's just insane to imagine getting up at that hour and running to the station to catch a train on a chilly winter morning. If one could do this after having slept only at 1:30am, he should be awarded atleast a symbolic kNighthood. To make it easy for you let me directly state it - "you can call me Sir from now on". 'Coz I have done it.

Alas, PooCh could not do it due to his never ending kutto vali khansi. He decided to stay back and do some recovery before hitting the road. I can imagine how hard this decisions was. But when gharwalo and gharwali put pressure, one does not have much choice. :D

So HotTiii and Boondiii it was. For the first time. It was going to be an interesting trip - Hyper enthusiast meets Seriousness personified. He wanted to go to CERN while I wanted to sit on the lake front. And so we did. Geneva is a cosmopolitan city. It has done well to develop its modernistic face - the world class shopping street, business district with head quarters of some of the world renowned banks and the head offices of some of the most prestigious institutions like UN and Red Cross - while preserving the charming old town.

People never fail to amaze you. I would have almost missed the heritage of this city, if one old lady had not approached us asking "do you need any help?" We really needed it. A map does not tell you anything. It's the people who talk. One just need to start of a conversation. Conversation with real strangers. I really feel ashamed to admit that I am not very good at it. Still, I have seen some improvements in last couple of trips and I know I am going to do well on this aspect. She gave us a brief history of town and guided our way through the most important sight. We just needed a small boost, she gave us a power doze. A quick round to cover the usual one cathedral, one garden and one public building tour of the city. Hidden amongst the usual European city attractions was a beautiful Russian church. It's stands apart from everything else I have seen so far because its uniquely shaped golden domes. It is also one of the fewer places of worship where we have actually seen people doing prayers. For the first time I saw peace prevailing in a church. It's such a precious thing in this tourist friendly world.

A walk around the lake and you will see the world famous flower clock. Finally, a clock in the city of watches. The who's who of world known watch brands origin in Swiss, most of them in Geneve. You can see most of them in the streets close the lake. It's a shoppers paradise out there. Brands and brands. Deals everywhere. It's Xmas time.. yuhooo...

There is an themed display of work by some artists on abstract things around the lake which is interesting too. I wonder why there are so many working on random abstract things in this part of the world. Why are they always in search for deeper more complex meanings and interpretation of life and things.

A little rain here and there made day even more interesting. A walk along the lake front and then some silent moments sitting next to the lighthouse watching the tiny waves making splash in the sand. Sounds like a sea shore right? It was not my dream. It's lake Geneve in its real beauty. You need to give it some time to unravel itself. I am happy that I gave it that time.

A lot of window shopping then the train to St Gallen. Yash is an enthu host I must say. Pav bhaji is one of my favorite and he made it almost perfectly. Some long conversations and then a peaceful sleep.

Switzerland is famous for its chocolates, knives, watches and cowbells. People come here to enjoy its snowy mountains. I have not yet scene any of it. But I guess I am going to love this country. It has been a great start for the trip.

ps:
Theory of Relativity
Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
- Albert Einstein
(Read it in a restaurant)

1: The flower clock in Geneva is just like the one in Baroda. Unfortunately Gujrat is not famous for Guj Watches.
2. The day is also dedicated to those kids that boarded our train. The school going kids seemed so carefree and happy with their life. Ignore that they were a little high on the red vine.
3. McDonalds in Switzerland serve a vegetarian burger. They are the only one to do that in the whole of Europe I guess.

EuroTrip - Day 75

26th Nov - Thursday

Time for a good news. Bruges' nomination as a probable destination for my honeymoon trip has been accepted by the lady. Bruges came as a challenge to undisputed champion - the Switzerland. It implies that now I have an implicit permission to visit Switzerland as part of this EuroTrip. My loved ones will surely be disappointed to know this. Sorry people, I just could not wait. ;-)

We leave for Geneva tomorrow morning. That's the only bit of planning that we have done so far. But before we leave, there is a class to be attended and a couple of assignments to be finished. One of those being a presentation for the final class of Strategic Marketing course. I spent the whole day today working on this presentation along with a couple of group-mates (the same girls who found a mention on this blog long back for yelling at me) and let me accept that it was real fun today. We spent almost 6 hours trying to justify poor performance by our team. We have tried our best to be honest. I hope the professors agrees to them too.

Tomorrow, we catch 5:40am train from Gare Du Lyon. That means we will have to leave home even before 5am. I wonder what had stuck me when I had gone to book tickets. The lady at ticketing window had confirmed at least thrice with me about the timings. It just did not struck me that what she was hinting at. Silly me. :(

EuroTrip - Day 74

Baba School & Libertease

The winter has arrived in Paris. We are kind of used to temperatures around 10 degrees now. It's the chilly winds that make us shiver every time we go out. The cloudy weather makes it even worse. It has taken the fun out of walking on the beautiful Paris roads. Now a days, We have been using metro more often than ever.

Yesterday, I had final exam for one of the subjects. It's that time of the trimester when you really can not avoid 'studying'. Back home, this phase lasts just a couple of days. But here, they prefer to have in-class exams and the randomness of schedules have stretched this exam phase to a whole of three weeks. In a sense, it should be beneficial for us as we will get ample time to prepare for the exams and get good grades. Did I hear - 'what a joke!!' Haha. I accept. That was a muggu joke.

The college is buzz with activities right now. Elections for the BDE (an equivalent of student council) is a really grand affair. Mad Is On (Baba School) and the DayLightFul (Libertease) are the two groups/gangs/teams that are competing for the prestigious BDE. They have been campaigning for this election for quite some time now. It's just that we did not realize that the daily parties that were thrown in the school premises were the mode of canvassing for such an elections. Free food, drinks and games have been a regular feature of these parties. However, last few days before election saw even grander events. While one team built up an artificial ice skating ring in the campus, other converted it into a go-carting arena. Free food and drinks were topped with free messages from trained masseurs, quick makeup help from experts, sumo wrestling, PS consoles in the halls and loads and loads of freebies. And not to mention, there were dance parties. Parties that get really wild. All this just for BDE? I think, I still don't understand the system. These parties were bloody expensive affairs. I have not had chance to listen to their debate (oh yes, they actually do such things as debate and manifestos too) but I have one of the manifesto with me. It's very creative and french. I will have to spend some quality time with google translator to figure out the details of the ideas on which these elections are fought. For now, we are just enjoying the party. The campus is livelier than ever and that's the best thing that these elections have offered us.

I had a presentation today in Consumer Behavior. It was based on an article titled 'Extended Self and Possessions in the Workplace.' In simple terms, it talked about how people today personalize their office workspace (cubicles) to express themselves. From the word go this article just made me go 'wow'. It reminded me of the every object that I had kept in my cubicle in all those years of jobs/internships and tried to explain hidden meaning in them. I felt as if the author had written it with me in mind. I really loved each moment of it.

BTW, did I tell you that now yours truly can boast of having the secret recipe of bread rolls. Thanks Tanya for sharing that with me. For others, now you have one more reason to come my home for the breakfast. :D

EuroTrip - Day 73

TitBits

A Swiss Bank Account
Yesterday a German friend of mine told me that he is a proud owner of a 'swiss bank account'. He had opened it while he was studying in Luzerne and then just did not feel like closing it even after leaving Switzerland.

Life in a Metro
What do two Indian guys do when the couple sitting next to them gets super passionate and get going? Against all general perceptions, they sit silent. Their awkwardness makes them stare in all possible directions except the couple. Interestingly, even though both of them are in same situation, they hardly look at each other or talk about it.

The American Ways
Only an American professor can come to class with a beer can in hand and finish it while teaching. Only he can talk about what his step-son has cooked for dinner and how he looks forward to go home for that. If you hear 'Son of A Gun' during a lecture, take my word - the professor is an American.

Man on the Street
Go to any popular tourist spot anywhere in Europe and you will find some Indian (he could be a Pakistani or Bangladeshi too) selling the souvenirs on the street. Afros and Blacks are his eternal competitors everywhere he goes. You can bargain hard with him. And at least once, he will try to let you believe that he is from your country and thus wants to do a fair business with you.
In contrast, you will find lots of European doing creative work to earn their livelihood. They are the street artists performing and entertaining the travelers. And they hardly talk about their nationality.

iPod therefore I am
My rough calculations say that atleast one third of the commuters on Paris Metro own an iPod. The number of people owning a smart-phone is roughly the same too. Almost one forth of them like to read something (from a news paper to French translation of Ramayana) while traveling in the Metro.

Bata
For most part of my life, I believed that Bata is an Indian brand. When I was a kid, this was the biggest shoe brand I was aware of. It's an altogether different thing that, like most of the other kids like me, I always aspired for Action Shoes; Bata was my Dad's brand. It was kind of a sad feeling to see the fall of this brand in Indian market (or atleast that is what my perception is) and transformation into a brand that survives on Half Price Sales.

However, its an altogether different story in Europe, where Bata competes with the who's who of the brands and shares the prime locations in the poshest of the shopping districts in most of the cities. Unarguably, it really is the only 'Indian' brand that I have seen in whole of Europe.
For the marketer in you (and me) the questions is 'how is it possible to have such a contrast positioning for a global brand in two different countries?'

And for those of you who don't really know about the history and origin of brand Bata, here is a clue. It was born in Czech Republic. Find more information here.

EuroTrip - Day 72

Just 18 days More

Eventually it has happened. The countdown has begin. My counting says that today was my 72nd day in Europe and that means that just another 18 days before I go back home. Home sweet home. And just over 27 days before I go back to campus. I am waiting desperately for both of them.

Today was another boring day in history of EuroTrip 2009. Our laziness index has hit the roof by now. I am pretty sure that Paris weather has something to do with it. Glooming sky and chiller winds trap your inside the four walls of whatever you call your office/home/college. I have been sitting here in my sofa-cum-bed for over 12 hours now and I can tell you that there is no fun in that.

So many times, we thought we should go out somewhere. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just go out of this room. But the laziness just killed any motivation that would have pushed us to venture out. It takes efforts go get up, get ready and get going you know. And hence, energy conservation is what we did the whole day today.

There are a couple of exams/presentation coming up this week. I still have to prepare for them. Today was supposed to be reserved for them. So I better do a little justice and get back to my books.

EuroTrip - Day 71

Happy Birthday Creamiii

Now you might want to question what kind of name Creamiii is! I let you take the freedom. I can just tell you that it is outcome of a limited creativity on part of a bunch of drunk tuchchas. I thank god that they were sane enough to give me as decent a name as Boondiii. Talking about Creamiii, this guy 'Ankur' was the first soul I met in IIMA. He had been allotted D3-R22 and he had settled there by the time I reached my room D3-R23. Impressive arrangement in the room, I must say. He was to be my neighbor for next two years. In next couple of weeks, I realized that I was surrounded by some of the best souls in this campus. In next couple of months GMBC.inc was born in the D3 dungeon and we all became part of it. GMBC has spent crazy times together as one gang. And I know we will continue to do it for a long time.

Today there is one branch of it open in Paris with Ankit, Ankur and Me as its members. GMBC.eu lets call it. We had some really amazing moments during the Barcelona trip and now it was time to celebrate a very special moment. It was Ankur's birthday yesterday and we just could not miss a chance to do the ritualistic birthday bumps. And then there is always a birthday treat. Aur phir birthday treat ke liye to ham kuch bhi kar sakte hai. :D

So we met. For a lavish lunch and then for a trip to the city of Paris (for Ankur, who lives in a village/subrub, Paris is actually a different city). We employed our best cooks (read me) and made a grand lunch - HotTiii's Tadka Daal, chawal and PJ's special Aloo sabji. Son papadi to end the lunch on a sweeter note (it's very difficult to find eggless cakes you know!). And we ate like kings. I hope Ankur liked the food coz I know others (read my roommates) are too indifferent of my cooking skills.

Our tourist day was going to guided by a shopping list that had arrived from India. Start with Arce de Triomphe, then a walk through Avenue des Champs-Élysées followed by some peaceful moment at Grande Arche, back to some (window) shopping at Galeries Lafayette and then end of the day at Eiffel Tower enjoying the light show - that was the plan.

Now If I can take the freedom, let me talk about two new entities that got mentioned in this list. This is just for the sack of completeness.

Arce de Triomphe - it is a replica of India Gate (or was it the other way?? Whatever!!). A huge gate and a small amar jawan jyoti in the mid. Unlike India Gate, you can get close to the gate and actually can go up too. There will be hundreds of tourists on either side, you being one amongst them.

Avenue des Champs-Élysées: It's the luxury street of the Paris. The who-s-who of retail brands have their outlets here to make their presence felt. Louis Vuitton has one of its biggest showroom on this street. There is Lido and a couple of theaters. And there are various galleries that are actually big malls in themselves. The best place to window shop coz everybody knows that they just can not afford to buy anything (unless of course if you are a Japanese tourist or a winner from 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'.). Still there are shops where you enter and there are shops where you don't even dare to enter. This is the beauty of the human psychology behind retail. I remember one of the post I wrote about a quote from Maximum City. Read the post here.

Amidst those shops selling dreams, we spotted a Starbucks Coffee. It was time to fulfil one of our dreams. To have a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Such an insignificant dream na? I don't deny that. Read the title of my blog and you will know I am a man who cherishes 'little moments of joy'. Starbucks is at the forefront of retailers who are selling experience and after hearing so much about it in all those classes of marketing and strategy, I had to feel it first hand. Luckily, other two guys felt the same way and we were right there in the queue ordering our first cup of Startbucks Coffee. Anything great? Not love at first sight, I can tell for sure. For anything beyond that, I will have to have more such dates. I had my fun at Starbucks and that is more than enough. Sometimes the people around you make a lot of difference. A great company can make it a memorable day. I am on my way to another such day, I am pretty sure.

An untimely rain almost spoilt our plan to walk till Grande Arche and we had to detour and take train to Galeries Lafayette but not before having a good look at the festive events and exhibition shops. It's Xmas time, every nook and corner of this street seems to say you. Ho ho ho.. Santa can come anytime.

To our bad luck, Galeries Lafayette remains closed on a Sunday. Unbelievable but true. Here they still respect work life balance and shops do get closed on atleast one day in the week. It was still a good place to be nonetheless. There were amazingly beautiful decoration done on the facade as well as on the displays along the wall. And street artists had captured the space to entertain the tourists like us. A couple of magical moments and work of art captured and collected for memories and we proceeded on our way to Gare Du Nord. A nice south Indian dinner was waiting for us in some restaurant. Masala Dosa and Sambhar Vada are delicacies that we have been missing for over two months now. Today it was the occasion to treat ourselves. The treat was on Ankur afterall. :D I can tell you the Dosa was as good as you will get in most part of India. Thin and Crisp. You could not ask for more.

PooCh and me were reached Eiffel just in time for the 8pm special light and sound show. Sadly Ankur had to leave for his village (or subrub whatever it is) and could not come to Eiffel. This was the second time I was coming to Eiffel and was third time I was to form an opinion for his beauty. It looks simply stunning in those dancing lights. No monument can beat its beauty at that very moment. An engineering marvel from last century meets the latest technology from today to create a marvelous experience. These light and sound performances are being done every night to commemorate something. Do try to make it to Eiffel by 8pm if you can. You will never forget what you get to see.

From Paris

Paris is turning out to be a real fun city. There are so many things that you can explore and visit only if you plan to spend plenty of time in this city. For once, I am really happy that I chose a college that is situated right in the mid of this city. I wouldn't have got a chance to see all these places and get these experience if I had been to any other place. I am really happy we decided to spend today like this. It was a day worth every moment. I hope we made it special for Ankur too. It was his belated birthday you know!

ps:Experience makes a man perfect. See today how safely I described Eiffel's beauty without mixing it up in any comparison to my fiancee. :)

ps2: The ritual birthday bumps are still pending. We did not know if it was safe enough to beat a living person like the way we do it in campus. You never know the laws in a foreign land. The wooden floor does not help in such matter too. pata nahi kab toot jaaye.... So the rituals will be completed in India with celebrations with a formal invitational ppt and cakes.

EuroTrip - Day 70

Fontainebleau, La Défense and an almost broken nose

Some days are better spent unplanned. Planning kills the romance. After having traveled so much in last couple of months, we have reached a saturation phase. Our days no more start at 6 am as there are no early morning trains to catch. We visit Facebook more frequently than bahn.de. The number of starred mails in my inbox has come down drastically. And yes most important of them all, we are taking bath on a daily basis now. :D

But it does not mean that we are not traveling at all. We are not yet caged in these four walls that we call home. If that was our agenda, India would have been a far cheaper place. We are doing small trips in and around Paris now. I feel ashamed to accept that we have not done any real sight seeing in this city as yet. So it clearly is the right time now to explore this city called Paris from close.

So after doing justice to a lazy morning (ready lazying around in our sofa bed), PooCh and me loaded ourselves with three of the greatest weapons that a traveler in this part of world should own - a EuRail Pass, a Paris Metro pass for a day and map of Île-de-France - and hit the road.

Fontainebleau, situated around an hour distance from Paris center was to be our first destination for the day. This commune is renowned for the large and scenic forest of Fontainebleau (which, incidentally, we did not know), the beautiful historical Château de Fontainebleau ( incidentlly again, we did not know about it) and is the home of INSEAD, one of the world's most elite business schools (Oh yes, we knew it). Taking TARDi's feedback on its face value, we had planned to visit the this town for it's 'beautiful garden'. For the first time, we did not bother about approaching the tourist information office (See how much confidence we have now on our tourist sense!) and we just reached the garden. Not bad, I must say. The garden was huge (actually a notch higher than huge) and it was green and had a big lake (with monstrous white ducks). There were people doing their morning rounds of jogging (at 2pm). What I loved the most about this place is that it had the silence. It had the silence of a jungle. I could hear the chirping of the birds. And I know I was at the right place. The splendid Château was right in front of me, but I knew I did not want to go there. I had found what I was searching for and that's it. I was at peace. And when you are at peace, whatever you speak comes right from your heart. Me and PooCh did not need to do 'random bakar' for a change today. We spoke about things that matter to us (atleast I did). I really admire this quality of PooCh. He is a good company whatever is the mood around. He can be part of any discussion in any group and let the group feel his presence. Random bakar or some profound discussions - he is the man. I, on the other hand, really get switched off in many situations. Can this art be learnt, I don't know. But if it can be, I know who will be the biggest 'guru'.

On our way to the garden, we had chanced to pass by a huge Carrefour outlet (one of those outskirts biggie) and we knew that we had to visit it on the way back. We are children of this consumption age you know. So we did. It's a huge world out there inside those four walls. There are loads and loads of brands trying to capture your attention. We did not see many offers (as expected, I can tell from my SRM class learnings) but then there were loads of store brands (again, as expected). People come here prepared to literally stock up their houses. We, on the other hand, were just exploring things that could serve as our lunch for the day. And we found Popcorn. One that was really affordable. The decision did not take much time. It's been more than two months since we munched those yummi things (I never realized, things like this will matter so much). A couple of biscuit packets and a bottle of sprite and we were on our way to railway station. Our next stop was going to be business district of Paris - La Défense.

For two whole months, we had seen just one side of Paris - that of culture and tradition. La Défense was to be our first interaction with its business side. It's the area where the who-s-who of French companies have their offices. With high-risers and glass-and-concrete giants, it presents a totally difference face of Paris. The difference becomes visible in the metro station itself. The station can beat many an airports with its design and the kind of shops it has accommodated. Xmas celebrations have already started so the decorations have gone up manifolds. If you are a 'mall' person, then this is your area. The malls are huge and have the biggest of the stores. If our afternoon was dedicated to visiting Carrefour, the evening went to Toys-R-Us. A child's heaven, this shop has a superb collection of toys and kids' items. Thank god the really high prices, else I and the kid with me (read PooCh) would have surely been down by a couple of dozens of Euros by end of the day.

We did spend a couple dozen Euros (together) shopping some other useful stuff though in some other shop. At times it is just too irresistible. The shops are plenty and have done very well in presenting their offerings. The only way to escape getting lured is to come out of the mall as quick as you can.

Arche de la Défense or simply as La Grande Arche welcomes you there. The modern day replica of Arc de Triomphe is at the westernmost extremity of Paris' 10 km long Historical Axis, which starts at the Louvre in Central Paris and continues along the Champs-Élysées, well beyond the Arc de Triomphe before culminating at La Défence. This 110 m high gate shaped building is meant as a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than military victories (as in the case of Arc de Triomphe). A photographer's love, this place offers a very beautiful view of La Défence and also Champs-Élysées. Currently the festive celebrations are going on making it really alive. A really nice place to spend your evening staring at the well-lit concrete monsters and ofcourse the Arc De Triomphe in a distance.

I will also remember this place for an almost broken nose. They have put some glass panels randomly (I guess to direct the winds so as not to hurt the temporary constructions in the area) but have forgotten to put sufficient warning. It was my luck or foolishness (I don't know which one) that I went and banged my face straight into one such glass panel saying these word 'bechare kitne jaakar takara jaate honge in glasses par' (or something like that, PooCh you might help me with those exact words). Irony is the word I guess. It was really a bang. The biggest I have had in recent time. The sound could be heard to a good distance. I am happy that my spectacles and my nose both are intact (it would have costed equally bad to have repaired any of those here in Paris).

It's time to do some damage control and take some rest. Tomorrow, it's a crucial day for all PGP2s. We go through our ritualistic bidding process for course selection in the wee hours (Paris time). It means that I should have slept early. But then for some unknown reasons, I started watching Fight Club. Once I start this movie, it's difficult to stop. It's going to be a long night, I am sure. I don't complaint. It has been a very good day and the longer it is, the more memorable it will become. I am Jack's greedy soul.

In Rome

We heard these guys in Rome first. Enchanting is the word for their music. Thanks HotTiii for finding them on youtube.



I remember listening to this tune in some Hindi movie. My guess is that either it was Koyla or Karan Arjun. A Rakesh/Rajesh Roshan work for sure.

And for record, this is the original composition from which the inspiration is taken by the group. Another amazing piece of music.

EuroTrip - Day 69

Friday Night Fever

It feels nice to get up one morning realizing that your bank account has been replenished. You don't need to worry about that extra euro that you might spend to quench your thirst on a chilly afternoon. That you don't need to feel guilty for the word 'spending' itself. It feels so nice to even to imagine such a day. I woke up today doing the same. Now I am hoping that such miracles do take place in this world. Life will be beautiful then.

Talking about money, I have always wondered why these people have a currency denomination called 'cents'. It just does not have any value without another denomination called a 'euro'. I have collected dozens of 1 cents by now (I hate carrefour for that) and I know I will end up carrying them back home and using as souvenirs. It just not make any sense to take two hundred of them to a shop to buy a can of sprite. You just can not buy anything in those cents unless the count up to a euro.

Coming back to world of crazy dreams (I am going to juggle back and forth between some topics today). I feel dreams and abstractism have one thing in common. They are open to interpretation and you are bound to get different interpretation given different people, same person at different time, or for that matter the same person, same time but different mood.

We visited Pompidou today. The temple for people who worship abstract art. This inside out building hosts the Centre national d'art et de culture and is open to public for over three decades now. It hosts a permanent exhibition (in Musée national d'art moderne) as well as some temporary ones to showcase the work of some well known and some not so well known artists of our time. As apparent from the name of the place, the idea is to promote modern art. Currently, the central exhibition is focused on work by around 200 female artists from around the world to emphasis on the importance of women artists in 20th century art. Around 500 works of art are used to portray the way these artists have explored various topics ranging from sexuality to modern notions of junk. They have used various media such as paintings, sculptures, plastics as well as photography and videos. There are rooms dedicated to each artists or on a particular theme and apart from just a brief description from the artists they are left open to interpretation by the viewers.

I must tell you I have not seen so much of abstract work in one place. I just fell in love with it. Each piece of work is so different and can convey so many meanings. At times, I had a feeling that even I could do something like this - a lot of things were just too normal and we tend to ignore them from the word go. But then I realize that even if I could do it, I did not do it. These artists did it because they had the courage to do it. They did not bother what the world will think about them after seeing their work. And because of this courage that today people like me stand in front of those same works of art and appreciate them. Somewhere I read "I do what I want to do. Others do what they can." I guess it beautifully sums up my thoughts.

It was a sunny morning to start the day but as the day progressed the clouds covered the blue sky. I just hate such weather where the cloudy sky leave in anticipation of rains. You just feel too lazy and bored. A long walk turned out to be so boring that I literally felt sick of it. I have never felt so tired after a walk back home from college. I'm too tired to do anything useful now and I guess will hit the bed pretty early. It's my way to enjoy the Friday night.

EuroTrip - Day 68

Buddha is smiling again

Because the apple has finally fallen. A long wait. Some nerve wracking tense times giving way to moment of elation. I had dreamt about it recently. I just could not believe when I heard about it first time. I wanted to check it myself and I did the same. And yes, it did happen. The apple did fall.

I am talking nonsense right? It indeed is nonsense. For a majority of you in this world. But it matters a lot to me. Because it proves that there is still an element of luck in my favor. I don't want to attribute it entirely to luck. That will undermine the persistent efforts that we had put in. It's just that our efforts have finally fructified and I am mood to celebrate this moment.

It's 2:30 am Paris time. By this time a lovely sun would have risen in most part of India. I can not wait any more to call home and give them the news. Sometime this time differences make all the differences. I distinctly remember waking up my sleeping parents at around midnight when my IIMB admission result had come. I just could not wait then. I just could not wait today.

It's a new day now.

My iPod had the same playlist for more than 6 months for now. I just cannot imagine how did I let it happen. A new playlist is on its way. Karunesh and Coldplay are back on the list. I hope to find my Lucky Ali collection soon. It's been a long time since I heard him.

I just finished watching Pulp Fiction. Finally. I feel no shame in admitting that I did not fully understand the movie but I loved it nonetheless. I guess I will spend some time reading about it and other work by Quintine Tarantino before giving this movie one more shot. I want to watch a couple of Raj Kapoor movies too. They have been doing rounds in my mind for quite some time now. Now that my vacations is about to end, I hope to get back to my movie watching schedules soon [Isn't it ironical that I watch less movies during vacation as compared to during the college time?].

PS: Smiling Buddha was the code name for the missing to conduct the first nuclear test in Pokhran. Buddha smiled again when we successfully tested our nuclear technology for the second time in Pokhran.

EuroTrip - Day 67

Kisses on the Grave

There were no negotiations yesterday. It was one of those canceled classes that I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts. You turn up for the class but the professor does not. Luckily, the professor entrusted us with some task and allowed to claim an attendance for it too. We really could not afford one more rescheduled class.

When it comes to negotiate something in absence of professor, it does not take much of a time. We are just too good and the meetings get over in less than a couple of minutes. There is no disagreements whatsoever inspite having students from so many cultures and nationality in the class. Nobody wants to work even a bit extra if the professor is not taking a note of it.

So we had a break for ourselves. A long break. And the first thought that came to our mind when we realized a possibility to go out of college, it was about visiting Le Cimetière du Père-Lachaise - the world famous cemetery in the center of Paris. It's just a 5 minutes walk from our college so we could spend a good amount of time there. Last time I went there, it was about to close and I really did not want to venture a great deal inside the big place so as to get lost and then end up spending my night next to some grave.

This cemetery boasts of being the resting place of many a great personalities, the world famous author and lover Oscar Wilde being one amongst them. His grave is very famous and is high priority item in the agenda of every visitor to this place. BTW, could you believe that this cemetery sees more than 2 million visitors every year (almost a third of those visiting Eiffel Tower)!! Coming back to Oscar Wilde's grave, this tomb is unique in itself. Instead of flowers, Oscar's follower shower kisses to his tomb. There are lipstick marks all over the tomb and messages from hundreds of lovers. It's interesting to say the least.

There are thousands of graves here, few of them are really beautiful. These graves are a testimony to the person who is resting to peace inside them. They are full with messages and souvenirs from the family and loved ones. Each one special for the people for whom it matters. Each one is unique in its own sense.

There are more than one million dead burried here and this cemetery seems to be running out of space. What will happen then? I wonder. They will need to find some way. Every soul needs its own resting place, you know.

That was my second date with Père-Lachaise.
Today the day has been rather uneventful. I really don't know how can a marketing class be so boring. It just not make any sense to me why they need to teach so much theory about human psychology in a course of consumer behavior. One could go in that depth if he has lot of time at his disposal. However with just 10 classes to complete a course, it does not leave any scope for actual interaction or discussions about the consumer in the class. I wish I had a chance to take this course again in IIMA.

International Finance class was as interesting as ever. The arrival of good news that 'pappu pass ho gaya hai' made it even better today. Yes, I have passed the mid term exam of International Finance. Atleast for the time being, that is. I was so hopeless after that exam that I had to pray to godjee and promise him that I will be a good boy. I guess it is time I become a good boy. :D

EuroTrip - Day 66

Life @ ESCP

I have been asked this question many times that how do I find my life at ESCP? How are things here as compared to those back home (sounds cool to talk like this). I really feel it does not make a great sense to compare the two institutions as each business school has its own distinct culture. The cultural difference between two countries make this task of comparison even more difficult. So, let me just list down my observation about this place instead. It's Life@ESCP through my eyes.

1. While just one class per week schedule gives you enough time to prepare well for each class, the three hour long class is actually a big pain. You tend to lose the concentration how much ever you try to hold your attention to the proceedings in the class.

2. Canceling of classes is common. Some of the professors have buffer sessions to take care of cancellations and rescheduling of such classes.

3. Every student realizes and respect the authority and power the professors command. However, this does not translate to a feeling of respect the same way that we see in India. A professor's presence does not affect your actions and discussions.

4. There are no prohibitions. In fact, there is a basement bar in the college. Every week there are party thrown for some reason or the other.

5. I did not notice any smoke detectors and fire alarms. Smoking is not banned in open space.

6. Assignments are taken very seriously. The deadlines need to be followed.

7. Basic facilities such as printer and xerox are very expensive and require you to take a bulk usage subscription.

8. The student body (or whatever it is called here) elections are really the matter of pride. It's a long process and requires the parties (or teams) to actively campaign through various means. There are many parties thrown out for such campaigns. Free daaru and khana are the biggest attraction of such parties.

9. As the Paris campus does not have residential facilities, everything closes by 9pm. You are on your own after that - no library, no internet.

to be continued...

ps: Will update as and when something comes to my mind.
ps2: Screwed up marketing strategy again, no negotiations on it. I really think classes are becoming a fad now.

EuroTrip - Day 65

Back To Reality

Back to Paris. To our abode for these three months of EuroTrip. Back to the world where we have a 'home' to go back to at the end of the day. Where we go to college and attend some lectures. Where we need to bother about assignments and attendance. And about the stock of grocery at home and cleaning up of trash from the bins.

This world is not as bad as it might seem from my words. It's just a different world.

It's a world where we bother, just for a moment though, that we have been wearing the same jacket for last two months. And that the jacket is not black in color (Black is 'the color' in Paris). Our appearances do matter here. Even if we don't bother much about it.

It's a world where we bother that if not us, there is someone else in our group who really cares for his/her grades in the course. And we need to work hard that grade.

It's a world that reminds us that life in Europe is more stressful than it appears on the faces of fellow travelers in the places we have been. Tourism has taken a toll on the face of this world. The real self is somewhere hidden behind the mask that a tourism friendly city portrays. One need to stay longer and interact at a deeper level to get to know the real nature of a city.

It's a world where you don't find a single smiling face in the metro train unless that person is on phone chatting with his/her family or loved one. The higher you go on comfort, the lesser you see a friendly face around. It's the same back there in India too. A journey in AC compartment is the most boring of them. I think a traveler loves to share only if there is pain around. Comfort makes him a loner.

Here people are more willing to kiss in public than throw a broad smile on their faces. Take my word - smiles are really rare. It might contradict my earlier observation about this city. However I have to accept that I was wrong to a certain extent.

Here we are so glued to our laptops that we forget that there are other souls around us. The virtual world overshadows the reality.

We are back to a world that is more closer to that back home. The loose threads of email and phone calls are pulling us back to those old days. Days, when we had to bother about our resumes. About the job and the salary it entitled. Bidding points, CGPA, CV Points appear more frequently in our conversations than 2 months ago. We are no more in our dorms but the conversations are same.

We don't know which destination we will go tomorrow. We don't bother about it anymore. May be it's really what they call backpacking. Good or Bad? I don't want to judge. It's just the way it is. And it happened on its own.

We are getting back in form. We are getting back to reality.

EuroTrip - Day 64

Life is BARCAful

It's consecutive third morning when we have got up with beautiful Barca sun outside our hostel room window. Till today, each morning had been sunny but as the day progressed the clouds covered the golden sun and we had to just make good with a pleasant temperature. Today, it was different. The sun was out there greeting us a beautiful day. It was a perfect day to hit the beach. However all of us had this firm belief that if we hit the beach, that will be the last thing we do in the day before the evening train to Paris. It was difficult but we had to control our emotions and proceed to see some of the things that were not yet ticked on our list.

Plaça d'Espanya was the first stop for the day. Actually we happen to reach here just by chance on our way to the Olympic Stadium. It's really hard to imagine that they could build a stadium that can host in vicinity of such a huge establishment. It's only after visiting the stadium that we realized that the stadium was actually constructed in the first half of 20th centuries and actually had been a major center for holding various events of international significance. The architecture of rest of the Olympic park is very much modern. I wonder why did they not include even a small hint of Gaudi influence or may be a dedication to Gaudi in the design of this stadium. I really expected to see some connection to Gaudi in this place that played such a significant role in bringing this city to the world map.

As if the detour to Olympic park was not enough, I chose to take a different route again. Instead of hitting the beach, I decided to go to Tibidabo, the small hill situated close to Barcelona. The church situated on its top had caught my attention as soon as I had arrived in this city. When lit in evening, it looked really beautiful and I really wanted to get a closer look at the place. I reached here (alas I did not take the popular funicular train and took the bus route instead) on a sunny afternoon and was amazed to see the crowd at this place. This place is heaven for couples who come here cycling/trekking or by other modes. The cathedral is just-another cathedral but looks good next to a giant wheel on top of this hill. Such a peak is an unsual location for an amusement park. But the park which is located on Tibidabo hill is a very popular attraction for locals and tourists alike. They say, this place is the best location to get a panoramic view of the city. And I vouch for it. It's like being on the top of Barcelona. You get a good look of everything around. I really wish that I should have come to this place during night so as to see this city when it is really alive.

There are so many things that you can do in one city. Barcelona is the first city where we have spent so much time and tried to feel the beat. We still could not do it full. It takes a lot of time and more involved interaction to understand the psyche of a city like Barcelona. For last 4 days or so, we have made our life BARCAful. Hats off to this city.

ps: Title taken from Jalan's status message on gtalk.
Barcelona trivia: There are metro stations named Parellel and Diagonal in this city. I wonder why they needed to have names like this.

EuroTrip - Day 63

Rome once more?

Oh not yet. Not in this EuroTrip for sure. I shall keep some thing pending for the next time too.
Then where should I go if I want to see a cathedral, aqueduct, circus, roman fora and an amphitheater in same town? If you are in Barcelona, the answer lies two hours away by train. The city of Tarragona offers you a date with Roman civilization right in the middle of this Catalan land. Before I forget, let me also list down that it has Gothic architecture and a beautiful sandy beach on offering too.

I am too bored of talking about this Roman and Gothic architectures. They are huge and glorious. And have a long history behind them. Lots of stories of love, hate and betrayals. War and peace. In all, a complete period drama. Still I think I would want to skip that portion for the day. You can check out the web if you want to hear those stories.

For me, this place was one more chance to learn about an industry called TOURISM. All throughout this EuroTrip, It has been impressive to notice how even the smallest of the cities are working really hard to promote tourism.

With the EuroZone in place, most of the boarders have virtually vanished. A well designed and maintained transportation system has made it easy for anyone to travel from one part to another. They boast of a train system where each and every station has the timetable available at each station giving you detail about the arrival and departure times for each and every train till the minutes. You can plan the entire journey at any station and will be able to book most of the tickets. Even a 8 minute difference between two connecting trains is really manageable. Trains run on time most of the times and if they are late you will be compensated in most of the cases. EuRail/InterRail passes are a boon if you are non-European and they make your travel really affordable.

Once you reach any city/town/village, the first thing on your mind would be to know about the place and get directions. A tourist information office is at your service in most of the cases. An English speaking officer gladly answers queries that you have got and will give you required literature. Maps, tour guides, brochures etc are available in plenty and in multiple language and they are really useful.

And now that when you know what you want to see, you might want to find out about the ways and modes of reaching there. There are city cards, travelers passes etc available to make it hassle free for you. You get free travel on local transportation (which by the way is mostly controlled by one authority independent of mode of transportation - metro, tram, bus, boats etc) and discounted entries to various tourist attractions.

I don't need to talk about the restaurants, pubs and shopping areas as they follow once a city is ready to attract so many outsiders. Interesting thing is that even there they have done very good to promote local art and cuisines.

Today in Tarragona there were two noticeable events.

1. The city tourism department seemed to be in a mode to track each of the tourist visiting this city. They collected extensive data about the tourists in terms of their nationality and the places they visited in this town. At entrance of every tourist attraction, the officer noted down a little information about us without bothering us with lot of hassles. For record, we were the first Indian tourists that many of the officers have met so far.

2. There was a promotional event by another state in Spain. The stage was set very well with use of latest technology and traditional music and cuisine at the same place. The enthusiasm with which the people concerned talked about and promoted their state was remarkable. It just gives you an idea the amount of effort everyone puts in promoting tourism here.

Today many of the European cities are using tourism as not just a way to earn money but also to promote themselves on world map. Influx of tourists had done wonders to these cities which have more global exposure than ever. It has also helped in preserving and promoting local arts and thus ensuring a longer life for them.

It's a win-win from any angle.

Can we do the same in India?

ps: For the record, we came back well in time to see Spain playing Argentina in a friendly match. We could not find a better place to see this match than the Irish pub on La Rambla. It was not the right place considering even Ireland was playing with France at the same time. So we ended up watching the Ireland match. It's fun to see a football match in an Irish pubs. These English people go really crazy. Good clean fun to end the day on a good note.

EuroTrip - Day 62

To the MAN called ANTONI GAUDI

I am not an artist. I don't know the alpha beta of art. Still let me tell you that Antoni Gaudi's work rocks. He is just too awesome. Yesterday, we had just got a glimpse of his style when we had chanced to see La Casa Batlló. Though we did not enter the place, even the view of the facade was sufficient to make us believe that ki Gaudi ka andaaj thoda hatke hai. Today, it was the time to prove our hypothesis. And what better place to do that than one of his best work - the Sagrada Família. This monumental church dedicated to the Holy Family is the finest example of his visionary genius, the worldwide symbol of Barcelona and the Cathedral of the third Millennium.

Did you say? "A cathedral!!"

Well yes, it is a cathedral. And before you say "not again," let me tell you that this is one place, you should visit even after seeing a thousand cathedrals all over the world. It is one of its kind and it will remain the same for centuries to come.

The work on this historic cathedral started in the last decade of 19th centuries and it continues even today. Gaudi visioned this place to be the symbol of faith. He incorporated his architectural knowledge with a complex system of symbolism. He was able to finish just one (out of four planned) facade in his lifetime. But he had more than done his job with his drawings and models for the rest of the cathedral. He had a huge influence from nature and geometry on his work and it took quite some time for other artists and designers to decipher his rules and style. But since then, the work on his cathedral is on a flow. With incorporation of the latest technologies in building materials and design, this building promises to be indeed the monument of the third millennium.

There are two distinct styles on the two facades that have been completed till now. While the Nativity facade has ornamental work with direct influence from nature, the Passion facade has a rather simple style. The audio-guide does a very good job explaining some of the details. One could write a book about the symbolism used and the way Gaudi has interpreted the various events in life of Christ. The museum has some of his drawings and models and tells us about the vision of the architect. I thoroughly enjoyed this place and would recommend it to everyone. Take my word, even the 11 euro entrance fee should not deter you from entering this place.

Our next stop was to be a temple of another kind - Camp Nou, the house of FC Barcelona. The main stadium in the big complex is the biggest in Europe and has hosted many crucial matches at international level and in UEFA league. But after seeing the Alliance Arena in Munich (what if it was just from the outside), it really was a disappointment. May be it looks good when in night, but when we went it was just ok. The entry to the museum is restricted and charged at 17 euros. And it is not even a guided tour. I guess FC Barca is too big a brand for me. See yea some other time guys!!

Now that we have come so far, it did not make any sense to go empty handed and we did what we could do the best - visit the FC Barca store and buy some merchandise. I am still trying to recall who amongst my friends is a Barca fan. If you are, do leave a comment. You will get an original FC Barca souvenir with love.

It was our chance to enjoy the Barcelona night life but the night had not yet arrived. So we took a long walk along the La Rambla. This street is famous for its street artists and the restaurants and pubs on the both sides. And true to its fame, it had an assortment of arts on display. The street is alive throughout the day but the real colors come out in evening. I am really happy that we decided to take the walk despite our tired legs.

I had been for over a day in Barca but still there were no signs of Jalan. Mr Busy was really trapped in his applications so I had given him the freedom to fix the plan. And finally he planned. We were to go clubbing with him. Those of you who know Jallu, he likes to party. So it was a safe bet. ;) We headed straight to beach side. It's difficult to get entry to free clubs if you are a gang of 7 guys. So we had to resort to an Irish pub. With some random live music in background, this was the best place we could afford to enter at that moment. For the record, I drank the most expensive sprite of my life here. A few random songs and then Jalan and I decided to call it a day. The applications were ringing bells in his head and I had no intention to stop him to cater to that. We had a long talk on a half maggie and a cup of chai (yes no tea, it was chai). Life could not have been more RVish.

It is 3:30 am, well past my bed time and Jalan is still left with lots of application work. So it's better that I hit the bed now and let him burn the midnight oil. I will have my own sets of such nights soon.

EuroTrip- Day 61

GMBC in Europe

Before I start the day, let me recall the start of this trip. With Bansi and TARDi on their honeymoon trip to Switzerland, three of us 'singles' were left to plan this trip. Out of the available two options - Spain and Switzerland, we had to choose the safest one - Spain so as not to disturb the lovey dovey even by mistake. So what if they don't say it! We know, we have been kabab me haddi (in Europe they call it kebap me haddi) for so long. :D

So Spain it was. We planned to reach Barcelona somehow and then see what to do. Bora and A1 were to join us. But then you know all about these couples. :D

So three of us fixed the plan and made the bookings. A surprise was waiting for us. We were not the only one traveling to Barcelona that night. Ankur, Anit (Bhatinda) and Mallik had also booked the same train and had similar plans.

It was a nice coincidence. The GMBC in Europe (Me, Ankur and Bhatinda) had made plans in India itself to do some trips together. But somehow because of our hectic schedules, we just could not do it till now. And this trip, we ended up on the same train just by chance. If it was meant to be, it had to be. And here we had a bigger larger and livelier gang.

The night journey in Corail Lunea was mostly uneventful except the long chat with Ankur. The train was a little lateto reach Port Bou and we had missed the connecting train for Barcelona. With around 2 hours to spare, we had no other option but to explore the town. And what a morning it turned out to be!!

The beach is less than half a km from the railway station and is very beautiful. Morning sun was shining in full glow to give an amazing warm feeling. There is no better thing to do than eat a nice breakfast on beach front in such a weather. Bread-jam had never tasted so good. A couple of photoshoot rounds and we were ready to board the train. Did I tell you, this small town had its own tourist information office too.

The journey from Port Bou to Barcelona was going to be a long one as we had taken a regional train. It stops at every station and if you are lucky enough the station could be as big as just a platform. A couple of hours' sleep and then game of cards. Time just flies away. Bhatinda taught us a new game called Literature today. A little technical (as the name suggests), this game kept us engaged for a long time. I am sure we will see more of it in our return journey too.

2pm is not the best of time to reach any city. If it was any other city in Europe, it would have meant that you are left with just around 3 hours of sunlight and day fun. However Barcelona is different. This Catalunean capital boasts of an active night life that is outside the clubs and bars. So we had nothing to worry about.

Like a traveler in the mood to relax, we straight away checked in our hostel, freshened up and started the search for a place to treat ourselves with a lunch. Today, we needed more than a subway. We were not in the cold weather of Europe anymore and we could splurge to celebrate that. It took us no time to realize that in Barcelona, you can find a lot of places serving a good buffet menu at around 10 euros. We were hungry and surely it was time to 'raise the bar'. With salad, pasta, noodles and pizza, a drink to go with, ice-cream and fruits as deserts and coffee to end the meal - the menus were just too irresistible to let go. "Eat as much as you want. If the plate is empty, I get more. It's all vegetables. No meat. No tuna. Change your plates, if you want. But you can use a maximum of 102 plates" - talks like this did a good selling and we did what was expected of us. We treated ourselves with the grandest lunch we have had in Europe. For over an hour and half the gang lunched and made best use of the opportunity. RV ke din yaad aa gaye. I am pretty sure, the restaurant guy will never try to sell his buffet menu to any Indian anymore.

If you start lunching at around 3 and eat for an hour or so, you end up eating so much that the next thing on your agenda would be to just take a stroll and/or sit back and relax somewhere. Alas, we were back in tourist mode (as we had very less time - just 4 days - in Barcelona). So we chose to take a stroll around La Rambla and then move towards the cathedral. The souvenir shops in Barcelona seemed to offer lot of new things with lots of Gaudi artefacts. I am sure end of this trip, I will have lots of things to take home as memories.

The cathedral was just-another cathedral so did not take a lot of our time. The market square outside the cathedral did seem to be fun with lots of activities. The street artists in Europe have won my heart. They play really nice music, show amazing stunts and draw amazing portraits and paintings. They do it with a great passion and grace and bring life to these piazza/plazas/squares.

Walking further, we crossed the Gothic quarters. For a lover of architecture that I am, it was not much of a difference from what we had been seeing all the while. Thank God we have PooCh with us. When it comes to Christianity, Architecture and long phone calls, he has no match [PJ disclaimers attached]. So we appreciated the buildings on the way and kept walking. Our manjil for the day (or actually night by now) was to hit the beach. It did not take long, just a couple of detours to see a glimpse of L'Aquàrium de Barcelona (Barcelona Aquarium) and Musée d'Histoire de la Catalogne à Barcelone (Museum of the History of Catalonia). Two places ticked on the Barcelona itinerary.

The beachfront is flocked with nice restaurants and clubs. It's one of the most beautiful beach I have seen so far. Gangs of boys and girls were playing beach football, the restaurants were starting their business and there were couples roaming around with hand in hand. It's a perfect end to a day. The long journey had taken a toll on us so we decided to take a rest for tonight and then hit the city in full enthu tomorrow. The plan has already been changed and we are going to stay in Barcelona instead of traveling to any other city (Madrid or Seville) so we should be able to get a lot more of Barcelona in next couple of days.

ps: Today I showed a remarkable improvements in my cooking skills and made a really tasty pasta. If you have any doubts, you can ask anyone from the gang.

EuroTrip - Day 60

2/3rd of the EuroTrip completed.
Something special in cooking.
Please wait...

EuroTrip - Day 59

Tuesday in Paris

One more lazy day. No real event as such. No train travel either (unless of course I don't ignore the journey in Paris Metro).

My experiment to make a aloo sabji met with a cruel accident today. I just do not understand how to handle the butter in the pan. Whenever I put butter on the heated pan, the kitchen gets filled with smoke. Luckily there are no fire alarms in our home, else I would have troubled the poor caretaker atleast 5 times by now. Today, it was to be even more disastrous as I had also put dhaniya powder and lal mirch powder for the tadka. What a tadka it was!! Poori building ko pata chal gaya hoga. Thank god they did not call Police for suspected development of WMD in our kitchen. Anyways, if you can read this blog entry, that is a clear indication that the sabji came out edible. Let me assure that all my roommates are safe too.

Today's Big Management Fads class goes to the purple girl. Our professor has an uncanny sense of humor and keeps the class entertained throughout. I am really loving this class. His way of discussing management tools like TQM and Kaizen is quite similar to that taken by Saral Da. I never realized but I am actually missing my first year classes from IIMA. They were so much fun and insightful. Whenever I try to compare my experience of learning in ESCP with that in IIMA, I find myself favoring IIMA classes with very high odds. Our courses are much more focused and in depth. Their emphasis is on building the basics while here in ESCP the emphasis is mostly on the application and result side. I have been told that in ESCP best of the courses are not offered in English. That means tha we visiting students can take up only the second rung courses. I wonder if this indeed is the case. I really think that we, at IIMA, give a much better deal to the visiting students.

I watched Gladiator last night. It was a treat to watch. I really want to get back to my movie watching days. It's been long since I have updated myself at passionforcinema.com. From the mainstream cinema, I recently saw the trailer of Three Idiots. This picture seem to have all the ingredient to become a hit. Looking forward to see some good commercial bollywood cinema. It's getting released on 25th Dec. I can imagine how hectic my xmas vacation is going to be!

EuroTrip - Day 58

Monday in Paris

I am clueless on what did I do today. I am trying hard to recall the events of the day. Let me try to make a list of things that I can remember:

1. I got up pretty late (for my standards). I think it was around 9am.

2. I went online and tried to update my blog, replied to mails (well I wanted to, but there were no mails that required my attention) and do some random reading.

3. I tried to finalize the plan for Spain. Went and booked some tickets.

4. Tried to arrange some other off-the-road trips. Spoke to a couple of friends regarding it. I think something will work out soon.

5. Oh yes!! Now I recall. I had a presentation to prepare for the course of Technology Transfer. Me and Pooch worked on it. Finalize the ppt and send to the group. We walked to the college to show the ppt to the prof. He saw it in 2 mins and wished us all the best. Gosh!! I have been waiting for so long to hear those golden words. No more Technology Transfer me for now. It's over. I just can not believe it.

6. Took a random route to return from college. Got lost. Saw a couple of majestic and beautiful gates on the way. The BNP Paribas building was beautiful too. I guess it was their head office for some division. Finally reached somewhere close to Gare Du Nord and then found the way.

7. Fixed up a dinner plan with a french friend who had been to India on an exchange program in last term. I am really looking forward to this dinner now. It will be my first real interaction with French life. I think meri cribs in last couple of posts have been answered by the GodJee. I hope he will pass me too.

Well, it was not such a waste day indeed. It's just that if we don't change a couple of trains in the day, the day remains totally uneventful. Such is our EuroTrip!!

EuroTrip - Day 57

Mercédès Jellinek

I have received a couple of complaints in last couple of weeks. Here is list them:
1. I am not posting any photos along with the blog.
2. The blog is becoming repetitive and boring.
3. I should reduce the size of the blog as at times I am writing too much of crap.

Well, I accept them with a pinch of salt. I am realizing day by day that I am not a good writer. My vocabulary sucks and every now and then I mix up with my grammar and tenses. And to top that, my short term memory is not doing any good. I accept.

So what do I do now? Should I stop writing? I don't seem to find a way to change much about my writing style anyways. At least not while I am writing most of these blogs on my mobile phone during those long train journeys. I cannot become a writer overnight. I guess I will continue writing this same old crap. You might ask - for whom? The answer to that is - for myself. This EuroTrip is one of its kind chance. I will never get to do it again. I am trying my best to preserve it for myself. So as to look back some day and say - those were the days...

With regard to photo, I have uploaded them in my picassaweb album and tried to give sufficient descriptions. Thoda effort to aapko bhi marana padega, you see.

To get back to my EuroTrip, today It was my chance to visit the Detroit of Germany. Stuttgart - the house of Mercedes Benz and Porsche. This city holds the distinction, along with Mannheim, of being the forefront of development of Automotive Revolution. The four wheeler industry owns its existence to the efforts of people like Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach who spent sleepless nights inventing petrol and diesel powered automobiles in their small workshops to.

Mercedes Benz museum located close to the Mercedes Benz plant in Stuttgart is a tribute to the existence of this company in the small history of the world of automobiles. It showcases the developments in this industry from the point of view of Mercedes Benz as a firm. By capturing the social and technological aspects of the development process, it has done well to give the museum a global appeal. You could not be a Merc fan, still this place has a lot to offer to you. For novices like me, it was a chance to see the best of the best (Merc) cars at one place and get to know more about them. I really loved their take on the world history in last 100 years or so. The exhibits along the ramps have a very different take on the significant events in last century and their contribution to the developments in automobile industry.

They also have a F1 simulator where you can get a feel of what the Schumachers and the Alonzos of this world go through when they drive those cars on those unimaginable speeds. Let me tell you from my experience, Kimi Raikkonen's famous victory in Monaco Grand Prix was a remarkable achievement considering what he could see while sitting inside the car.

One more visit to Mannheim and some more of Boraism. The plan for Spain looks pretty much in place. I shall go and book tickets the next day. For now, I am too tired and these ICE seats are really comfortable to allow me to take a long nap.

ps: A couple of observations/discovery from the day:
1. I saw more Volksvagons, Audis and Citroen cars on Stuttgart roads than Merc or Porshce. I have statistically significant proofs to support my claims.
2. The name Mercedes came from the daughter of a champion salesman of cars made by Benz's company.
3. You can spend a full day in this museum, so plan your trip accordingly.

EuroTrip - Day 56

Back to Munchen

Munchen is a wonderful city. Full of spirit. This was my third trip to this Bavarian Capital and it has succeeded in surprising me again. The day of Octoberfest, the night of long walk and now a day and night of history and culture - the offerings have been varied. However, they all resemble in one aspect - they are full of spirit. Spirit that originates from this city's Bavarian roots, spirit that come from it's rebirth post WW2.

Last time, I had left some conversation unfinished. Now that I was traveling at my own pace and peace, it was a perfect chance today to continue where we (DJ and Me) left the last time. We got so much involved in our bakar, that we did not realize the time at all. After DJ's marathon bath (yes, it was indeed a marathon taking close to an hour), the gang headed to the Dachau Memorial. DJ's roommates - Satya (Satish), Sushant (SPIRITed man) and Balaji(the married man) had readily agreed to spare their Saturday afternoon to join the gang. I was back amongst IT professional. It was good to be back, I must say.

Dachau was the first concentration camp built by the SS during the rise of Hitler in Germany. City of Munich had played a significant role in Hitler's rise as Germany's Chancellor. This probably contributed to some extent in selection of a Munich suburb as the model for what in future will be the biggest weapon of Hitler's agenda.

Today Dachau stands as a testimony of the misery and plight of thousands of victims of racial discriminatory policies. It is there today just to pass on a message to the coming generations - Never Again. The survivors of this concentration camp have made it a conscience attempt to not let the world forget anything that happened within the bounds of this dreaded place. The memorial has no entrance fee to encourage everyone to get a glimpse of some of the biggest sins committed by the man.

The entrance and visit to the memorial site is planned in such a way that the visitor traverses the path that was taken by every unfortunate inmate of this camp. Enter from Jourhouse (bridge) to reach Roll-call area ( every 'prisoner' was made to stand for hours everyday in the chilly winter) to Maintenance building (their workshops, kitchen and other common facilities) to bunker and barracks (their sleeping place - the 6x3 abode for every prisoner) to religious memorials (that were built after the liberation of this camp), the perimeter fence (the suicide trap) to the dreaded crematorium and Barrack X (where they had the gas chambers) - the path is full of stories of terror and hope. I find myself incapable to transfer the emotions that I went through after reading and listening about each of these places. One of the testimony of a survivor of the camp reads 'It was hard for me to imagine that I was in the same world that I had seen all my life. I am pretty sure it was part of some other world where humanity did not exist.' I can claim to have got similar feelings, but then I am just an observer. The reality is all out there to feel and imagine.

After spending a chilly afternoon in Dachau, I decided to go to Olympic Park while the group went home for their gharelu kaam kaaj (It's a weekend afterall, time to stock up). The BMW museum is just next to the station and was too tempting to resist. However, I just had two hours before it was to close and then I had plans to visit Merc Museum the next day. So I controlled myself and headed straight to the Olympic Park.

One can go up the Olympic Tower through a lift that zooms upwards at 7m/s to take you the platform at a height of 185m in just a couple of minutes. The view from their is unbelievable. It was dark by now and the city was dazzling in its night life. The panoramic view from this tower was remarkably different from the one I saw last time I was here in Munich. There were no churches but big swanky buildings hosting the top of their class offices. The Arena was glowing in a distant corner attracting everyone who saw in that direction. The Olympic Park complex below and the area surrounding is an altogether different world from the one you see in the Merienplatz/KarlzPlatz area. It's a new Munich for you.

This tower also hosts an unusual museum. One for Rock Music. Some rock enthusiast had shared his collection of memorabilia and gifts from fans here. It's a nice watch and can keep you entertained for atleast half n hour. There is an old style juke box too if you want to get nostalgic and listen to your favorite songs.

Alliance Arena - the red dish shaped structure that I saw from the Olympic Tower was to be my next stop. I had been planning to go to this place for so long. It's the home ground for Bayern Munich FC. Today, being a match day, I was really hoping to see something unique that I would not have seen on other days. My luck did not favor me a lot and the stadium was closed by the time I reached. They had also started to switch off the lights. The redness was vanishing in the fog that had engulfed the city of Munich by now. I just could see a glimpse of what this stadium really looks like when it is at its glowing best. I shall come back to this place. To see it once more and feel the spirit that is called the Bayern Munich FC. I have seen too much of those blue colored mufflers in this city today. Everyone is partying to celebrate their win in the morning. They all are high.

Day ended with a pubcrawl - where we visited some of the most popular discs in the town. Alas it was a really long queue at every place and we just did not have patience to wait in the cold outside. Irish club, on the other hand was warm enough to end the day on a nice note. A couple of bears and some nice talks with people around and we were ready to hit the bed. It was a real long day for me. A day when I did things my own way and enjoyed each one of those. I look forward to a great day tomorrow in Stuttgart. Good night for now.

EuroTrip - Day 55

L.O.S.T.

I have lost a couple of KGs since the start of this trip. The reduced waistline should worry me a little as I had done a lot of shopping for clothes just a couple months back before the trip. But I am the least bothered about it. Ghar jaakar I can makeup for it. What is worrying me now is that I seem to have lost my purpose. I stayed at home for a couple of days (that is apart from the Tuesday and Wednesday when we have our classes) to take a stock of events in my life. It has been two months since I am away from home. It's been two crazy months filled with hectic travel (and some customary visits to college stuffed in between) in length and breath of Europe. I call it my EuroTrip. Filled with its lows and highs, this trip has indeed been a good experience. However, it seems to lose it charm now. I am finding it difficult to prepare myself for another journey following the mundane routine that I have been using so far.

The news from the campus is that the Summer process has been really impressive this year. It's a good sign. Our Laterals and Finals should show a similar trend, we are hoping. My preparation for this 'most important element' of my MBA course is absolutely off the track. I am scared now to think that the decision that I took to enjoy these three months in Europe instead of toiling back there to improve my resume (and ofcourse knowledge) might be a big blunder. I am missing crucial months of my life in IIMA. They could make or break it. If I see the expectations that people around me have placed on me, I really feel now that I should have stayed back there in India.

I have seen a couple of failures in last couple of weeks. In some cases it was a couple of decision went sour while in others it was my own wrongdoing. I have a clear idea about my mistakes now but somehow the corrections required seem to be elusive. There are certain basic changes required in the way I live my life. I am finding it difficult at this moment to think of ways to achieve that. I wonder if some more introspection could help.

I am on my way to Munich now. This time I am traveling alone. That's the best thing that can help me at this moment. I should get some time to retrospect too. There is no fixed path in search of Peace.

EuroTrip - Day 54

Behind the Lens

And I am back in form. Same old form. A thousand shots and I am there in - well almost none. A total contrast to what others in my gang here would say. I am in search for those picture perfect moments. To convert them to postcards. Nature, history, arts, culture, people - there are so many things to capture. And then if I think of myself, I see only one role - that behind the camera.

Well, I did get a complaint or two that I could not be found on any of my EuroTrip photos. So people do expect to see me once in a while. How do I convince you that I am the same old stuff that you had to see in last 24-25 years of my existence and there is no change. At this moment, I might be sporting a fake looking french beard and wearing a headgear to look a bit more Italian - but then you can guess it well. It's all fake. My skin color is as brown as it was back home (my mom would say as Black as I was in India) and I am the same Indian who likes his chai with lot of milk and eats his meals with his hands and licks fingers sometimes.

As I was browsing through my photos from the start of the trip, I realized that I was doing lot of spy photography (candid sounds a better word though). I have captured so many local peoples in their natural pose. Their expressions are varied and very interesting. I wanted to do a collection on people when they are smoking. I wanted to capture them when they were talking on phone. But then, as time progressed, I realized it was not the right thing to do. Ethical and privacy concerns (there are so many so called private things are well in public here) made me stop doing it. I am still thinking if I should post the collection with the existing photos. Let us see.

My collection of buildings, cars, bikes, doors, windows, railway stations, street artists etc are seeing a good progress. So expect to see a glimpse of a different Europe soon on my picassaweb page.

For now, I have uploaded photos from most part of my EuroTrip. These are the best shots that should give a good idea about the places we have been to. As usual, you are welcome to comment on the photos. It is a really nice experience to read someone else's view on your take on something. Here is the link : http://picasaweb.google.com/8priteshj

FYI, recent updates include - Dachau, Back to Munich, Bruges, Luxembourg, Antwerp, Rome, Milan, Venice, Vienna, Budapest, Annecy, Aix Les Bain, Chambery, Diwali celebrations, Salzburg, Salzburg Ice Caves, Strassburg, Berline, Manheim etc etc...

EuroTrip - Day 53

Kakke pass hone ke lale pad gaye hai...

That's exactly my situation right now. We had the mid term exam of the International Finance course and now I am praying to god to pass me this time. It's not that I had not prepared well for the exam - I had devoted half a night plus half a day just for the preparation. But then, in such a short duration you could not expect one to read a full text book (that too in a course in Finance). Half hearted measures you know! So now here I am, praying to godjee to save me from the misery. If I fail on the exchange term, that will be the biggest disgrace on my part.

There is one interesting thing that happened during today's exam. The exam was of two hours. But atleast 6-7 guys finished and submitted their paper within one hour. No need to guess the nationality of those quick gun murugans. The entire class was shocked when they saw that all the Indians have walked out as if it was their own parliament.

We are almost done with Tech Transfer Course. The global presentation that we prepared as our submission is supposedly going to be presented to Airbus in a meeting in the next month. So our professor made sure that we work some more on the presentation to make it look more insightful as well as beautiful. One more iteration that is. My affair with the world of Tech Transfer is not yet over.

It's time to take some rest now. I am about to start the process of cleaning up photos and uploading the best shots in my picassaweb album. It's a tedious process but worth the effort. If I don't do it now, I will never be able to do it. Next couple of days, we will spent in Paris itself. The batteries need to be charged, the maps reloaded and the clothes washed. Welcome to the world called homeliness.

EuroTrip - Day 52

Chai Chai Chai

I miss chai. Rambhai ki adarak wali kadak chai. For the people here, coffee is everything. One cup of espresso on-the-go and they are ready for the day. For most practical purpose, it is their cigarette and not this coffee which refreshes them for the hectic day ahead.

Chai, or thé as they call it in French, here is something totally different. It's more like the way Englishman like it - very little milk and almost no sugar. If you want to imagine what I am talking about, do this. Take a cup of hot water. Put a tea bag and make black tea. Add a teaspoon milk and half a teaspoon sugar to it. Stir it well and enjoy. Now, for kitli-types like me, calling this chai is like an insult to the magic potion.

I am really missing those golden days in campus when Bangiii or Dhruv would come shouting if anyone was up for chai. The short walk to gate and then long discussions over chai at the kitli in front of the gate made it a special day everyday. Just a few days more and I am going back to this routine. Guys at GMBC, you still are doing those rounds right?

You might ask how come I recalled chai and decided to write about it. The answer to your question is that it was the lady that we met on our train journey from Strasbourg to Paris CDG who made me do this. Miraya (I am not sure about the spelling) or Mira as she is known as when in India, was on her way to catch a flight to Delhi. She came from nowhere and amazed us in the next two hours with her hindi and amazing knowledge of India.

Mira has traveled to India multiple times in last couple of years. She has traveled to -hold you breath- Mandu, Dwaraka, Puri, Gokarna (plan for this time) and places like this. Amazed right? No Goa, no Mumbai, no Delhi etc. For most of the foreigners, knowledge of India starts at Bangalore (The IT hub, city where most of their jobs are going) and ends at Goa (cheap daaru and dawai). They might also know about Mumbai. But that's it.

For the traveler kinds like Mira, it is something different though. She did her first trip back in 2003 with the help of Lonely Planet. But instead of going to some popular destination, she went to Mandu and stayed there for a couple of month to get a hang of India. In return she taught French to the owner of guest house where she stayed.

Her next trip was off the routes given in LP. Those places are too much touristy kinds, she complained. Incidently I had similar complaints for some European cities. So it was Dwarika, Puri and other such places. She found 'peace' and loved the beauty of Indian temples. Before you think, let me clarify - she is not a volunteer with any missionary. She went to these places out of her interest. To keep herself going, she took up teaching jobs and helped poor students with her english (A french lady teaching English in India!). She learnt Hindi to be able to communicate with those students.

Indian railways gave her comfort of cheap travel as well opportunities to see India from close. She learnt to travel like we Indians do. The sound of 'chai chai chai' and the 'chane jor garam' is what she missed the most from her train experience in India. We couldn't have agreed more. It is just too silent on these European trains.

And the next two hours, it was like going through a list of things that we have been missing and have been wanting to do as soon as we reach India. Idli sambar, Samosa, Chai, Mohan-thal and what not. She knew ilaichi and besan. We could not have asked for more. There was no way we could not get nostalgic. We really miss home now.

Now coming the most important part of the whole episode. Today a french lady came and told us about our culture. Will we be able to do a similar thing to some French person? I wonder if our answer can be in positive. We have not yet explored anything beyond the 'bonjour - long legs short skirt - always cigarette' culture in France. We better not dare to say this to anyone.